Ultreia!

I know I'll often hear that word while on my path. I and my fellow pilgrims will hear it shouted to us as a form of encouragement by the many people that will see us on our journey. This word has a great meaning for me as a pilgrim but an even greater meaning to me as a person; I think it holds the single greatest lesson the Camino has taught me so far!

Ultreia! or Ultreya! is a word deriving from the ancient Galician language (and originally from the Latin word ultra) which is difficult to translate exactly, but means something like 'Walk further!', 'Walk higher!', 'Onward!' or 'Walk on!'. Basically; keep going!!! I've used this simple word to cheer me on, to keep me going, since last night!

Last night I was in great pain and washing my clothes was hard again, taking a shower took ages and simply walking to the store to get some juice was a chore! For a moment the pain and aching engulfed my whole conciousness and a thought entered my mind: "I have 3-5 weeks of THIS left???" All the positive experiences on the Camino were nowhere to be found and self-pity became all inclusive...

I came to, like out of a bad dream, all the wonderful memories of this amazing journey came rushing back into my mind and a sense of reality was restored. Of course it's true that this is painful and yes it's true that it's challenging to walk this far through hilly Northern Spain every day but that in itself is not the whole truth. Mixed in with this are all the fantastic experiences I've had so far and together those make for an amazing journey. Through hardship I'm able to experience a feeling of achievement, a feeling of triumph that I couldn't feel without this being extremely difficult. So in fact the bad stuff is necessary for me to experience all the good feelings I'm having! :)

I felt better last night after this thought and also today as I reminded myself again and again! I've realized that Ultreia is a spiritual practice, a word filled with power for those dark times when your conciousness has no recollection of the truth, for times when all that matters is to keep going until your mind returns back to that which is real...until you can see more than the shadow's of your experiences!

Ultreia is perhaps the most important lesson I will learn on this journey: Keep on going Gulli, no matter what...no matter what!!!!!

My melancholy feelings were quick to subside last night and I had a lovely Pilgrim dinner with an English woman named Penelope. We discussed how hardship had infact taught us valuable lessons and how we were better for it today. It was a great dinner and I was very greatful for it since I wasn't in the same Albergue as the majority of people I had been travelling with the previous days.

I slept until 8:00 this morning and we had to have left the Albergue at that time. I hurried out, had breakfast at a coffee place, prayed and meditated and headed off. I walked through the center of Logroño and left that beautiful city around 9:45-10:00. Logroño is the capitol city of Rioja, a providence soooo famous for it's wine! ;)

I was far behind everyone else and I wasn't expecting to catch up with anybody. With the word Ultreia in my mind and my ipod blasting in my ears I powerwalked like never before. I didn't stop for 13 km, when I reached Navarrete, and even there I only stopped to stretch, fill my water bag and eat 1 banana. I kept on going again for almost 2 hours, stopped again for 2 bananas, fill my water bag and stretch. Then => POWERwalk! :)

I arrived in Najera, 29 km from Logroño, at 16:00. It was amazing! I felt so powerful, so filled with energy that I couldn't even believe it. Usually after a day like this I've been so tired but I danced my way into the city. The walk was so hot, the sun showing that it too is immensly powerful and both times I stopped I took my t-shirt off and squeesed loads of sweat from it...Loads!! ;)

I had a good chance to cool off when I got here since there was no hot water left for the shower. I took an icecold shower but not even that could ruin my buzz. I feel great and it feels like my body is finally getting ready for this walk. I don't know if I'll experience the same thing tonight as last night; I didn't sleep much at all, I woke up in pain because of my ankle and I was so hot after walking in the sun all yesterday. But I feel great right now! My ankle feels much better, almost cured...even though this morning was the worst so far! I will of course remain "realistic" and just wait and see what will happen, but I feel great though and expect the best right now! :)

If the dark clouds your mind are overwhelming you I hope a feeling of Ultreia will seize you, I hope you will march on no matter what! When the dark clouds pass I hope you find a well of energy as endless as the one I've found! :D